I know, it’s amazing how much she can transform isn’t it?! If I (Breanna) were the captain of her softball team, she would totally be my secret weapon!

I can just see it now, a sweet and innocent girl who looks like she could hardly hurt a fly gets off the bus, giving the opponents the idea that they can totally take this team….

…and then BAM! She comes out of the locker room a transformed girl and cleans up on the field!

So of course for her senior session we had to capture both sides of this talented girl’s personalities. But you can only look through so many photos of an intimidating face before it stops being fun because you immediately feel like you’re losing a game you’re not even playing, so for most of the session we focused on Margaret’s daily, non-game personality!

And Margaret chose just the location to help show off her relaxed and stylish self! The Venue at the Grove is one of those places that non-desert fans love because it just doesn’t quite look like Phoenix with the pecan grove, the white picket fence, and the green grass. In other words, there are no cactus in site!

Only awesome old trucks…

…a grungy shed…

…and on this particular day, a beautiful girl with stunning eyes and a shining smile who was excitedly posing for the senior pictures she’s been looking forward to for so long!

Margaret, thanks for choosing us as your senior photo photographers! We know that’s a huge deal and we loved working with you as we attempted to show off both sides of your personality!

I hope you love the photos as much as we do! Enjoy the rest of your senior year and we hope you rock it at graduation!

But you still don’t know the half of it. He’s even cooler than you think, that’s because he’s our nephew which obviously automatically triples his cool points.

You’d think doing photos for family would be easy, right? Well it is if your family member isn’t super witty and sarcastic! I’ve definitely never been actually mocked by one of my clients while doing their photo session before!!

It threw me (Breanna) off at first, but it didn’t take me long to recover and remember that, oh wait, I’m better at this game than he is (I can say that because he isn’t here to defend himself… who’s winning now, Michael?!).

I will say that it’s definitely easier to draw people out for the camera when you know them so well!

It’s also easy to take pictures of Michael because he is pretty amazing at posing! He’s got his look nailed. I mean, check out that Blue Steel! I don’t think Derek Zoolander himself could beat that one!

He also has a fantastic smile that I was able to draw out when he could no longer hide the fact that I’m way funnier than him (oh what’s that, Michael? I can’t hear you arguing with that through your computer!).

OK, I’ll admit it Michael, we had a lot of fun with you . We’re glad that we not only got to take your pictures, but that you’re a part of our family. We like having you around so much that I’ll actually say it… you and your snarky comments really are pretty funny!

And even if you’re mocking me, I still appreciate the high quality of your humor.

(Look at this one carefully, we call it “The Peter Pan Shot”!)

Thanks for making our job and our lives more fun. Congrats on graduating!

When we first heard the ideas Ty’s family had for his senior session. The first reaction we had was to say, “YESSSSSSS”! We love, love LOVE when people come to us with their own creative ideas for a session that reflect their own stories and experiences perfectly. Especially when those ideas happen to be the kind that look incredibly stunning in photos!

First, we started out getting some normal senior photos that just captured who Ty is at this momentous stage in his life. You know the drill, smiling at the camera…

sitting, standing…

…baseball fields, a freaking amazing car…

…OK so maybe even our beginning photos weren’t so average after all!!

Nothing about this session was average and everything about it was SOOO Ty! We loved it!

As I was saying, we spent some time getting shots of Ty with his car that he loves and was super happy to get some photos of.

Then we moved onto some of the crazier parts that I was telling you about….

Oh, what? There’s FIRE in the background? OK, maybe just sparks, but STILL! Yeah, that’s right! Like I said, Ty’s family gave us some amazing stuff to work with! They own MacDermid Design Ltd. in Phoenix (so of course I know all of you will be going there for all your metal fabrication needs!). The shop has been a huge part of their lives and Ty himself works there, so what better place to get a more than AMAZING background for his senior photos!

Besides the absolute coolness of this session, I think my (Breanna’s) favorite part about this session was that it was more than about Ty at this time of his life, it was about him and his family at this time in their lives! His mom was there to help style Ty, while his dad was there to make sparks fly!

Of course as parents do, they were both there to ooh and awe over him during photo time (of course as teens do, Ty pretended he didn’t hear this).

Just when we thought we could put our cameras away because we didn’t think the session could get any better, Ty told about another idea he had to incorporate his car into some cool night time shots.

Once we started taking these photos, once again the only thing we could say was, “YESSSSSSS”! Of course Scottie also muttered “sick” under his breath after every incredibly cool shot he took (the good kind of sick you know).

(this is what gave me the fire and ice title for this post… we had the warm fire shots and the cool blue HID car headlight shots!).

OK, I know I already said that the family involvement in the session was my favorite part… along with the sparks and car photos… but I lied because I have ANOTHER favorite thing (Scottie always tells me I have too many favorites). My other favorite thing was that Ty’s mom decided several years ago that we would be the photographers for her son’s senior pictures and she’s been waiting for this day ever since.

We did senior pictures for a family friend of theirs, Valeria, and Ty’s mom bookmarked our blog and has been following us ever since, just waiting for the day when her son was ready for his big moment.

She showed Ty our site and he quickly agreed that her instincts were right and he’d like to have us as his senior photographers. I can’t even tell you what it meant to us that they’ve been waiting for this day for so long and that they’ve been excited that whole time to have US be a part of it. OK, so this was probably my favoritest favorite thing about the session.

It’s also probably one of the reasons that we felt so comfortable with Ty and his family that we felt we’d known them for a long time. They’ve been connected to us for years now and even though we didn’t know it, there was just some sense of immediate camaraderie that was established immediately because of it. Soooo cool. It’s just another reminder how honored we are to get to be a part of all the milestone moments in people’s lives. That said, Ty, we are SO happy we got to be the ones to take your senior photos, we hope you love them as much as we do!

Take a second to think back on the people who really helped shape your life. The ones who were there watching you grow up, make mistakes, shed tears, overcome obstacles, realize your potential, etc., etc. These photos here are all about those kinds of relationships.

Chelsea…

(yeah, that’s her).

…is a sweet twenty something who wanted to make a difference in the lives of young girls. So she began volunteering as a mentor for girls at her church who were about to enter the eagerly anticipated (and also secretly dreaded) world of Junior High!

They bonded that first year as the girls stepped into 7th grade facing school dances, making or not making the cheerleading squad, friend problems, figuring out which group they fit in with, and ultimately discovering who they really are.

8th grade came along and Chelsea decided to stay along side the girls and help them through their upcoming challenges that she knew through experience, would continue to come their way. That year she stood by helping them through more friend problems, moral dilemmas as they began defining and learning to live by their personal beliefs, saying good bye to good friends as they headed in different directions for high school, and preparing to become full fledged teenagers!

Guess what? They SURVIVED Jr. High!!! Hooray! And off to High School they went! Chelsea decided to come along for that too! Of course the group members changed from time to time, but even with that, they remained very close as a whole.

They had already spent two years together maturing into real live teenagers and now they were headed into four of the most life changing years… still together… still with Chelsea supporting them, guiding them, and comforting them all along the way.

They made it through football games, drivers license testing, break ups, good grades and bad grades, senior year goodbye parties, more friend problems, more fun, more pain, more drama, more growth… more of life… together.

Which brings us to now. Now they are graduating. Now they are all following the paths they’ve been discovering and working towards along the way. Now they are saying goodbye to one another. To their support, their comfort, and their friends.

Their relationships with one another and with Chelsea will be changing as they head to different parts of the globe. So they are grieving those changes together, but who am I kidding? They live in the land of Facebook, emails, texting, Skype, etc. This isn’t goodbye! This is just a celebration of moving forward!

Time for a last hurrah together with everyone in the same place at the same time! Of course we all know what that means….

…. ROADTRIP!!!!!

They packed their bags, left the AZ desert and headed to California for a weekend full of Disneyland, the beach, van sing alongs, boy talk, and you guessed it… a photo session with Radiant Photography!

I (Breanna) have to admit that I was so excited for the girls as they embarked on this memorable trip that I was actually a little jealous! I wanted to be a part of the fun and the memories, but I knew I was just going to be a third party observer. But before the photo session had even started, I realized that wasn’t going to be the case at all because they swept me up into the crazy fun and made me just as much of a part of it as if I’d been in the group all along!

Photo session, food truck night, and Disneyland…

…I got to be right there having a ball with them through all of it!

I’ve never been lucky enough to have a group like they’ve all had together, but while they were here I felt like a part of something I’d always wanted to have! So a special thanks to the girls for making me an honorary member, I LOVED it and you guys made my year!!!!!

And a special note to Chelsea… Chelsea, you are incredible. I’ve been around you as you’ve poured more and more of your heart, time, energy, thoughts, etc, etc into these girls and I have to say that I think it was all worth it.

You’ve been a huge part in helping these girls grow up into the amazing people they are now and I know they will remember your role in their growth for the rest of their lives. I’m so proud of you for the things you’ve sacrificed in your own life for the good of these girls and I’m sure they’ve thanked you for this from time to time and I want to do so myself as well. Thanks for being an incredible role model, not just to the girls themselves but to everyone who sees you with them. You truly are a great example of what it means to love and give of yourself to others. You’re a hero to more people than you know, Chelsea.

We had so much fun capturing this incredible group of girls who we could easily see were super close and had been through so much together. They really love one another and we were so happy to get to be a part of this great group as they celebrated their time together, their friendships, and their upcoming new adventures. Cheers to all of you!

Scottie and I have enjoyed getting to know all of you at different points through various things we’ve photographed that you’ve been a part of, and of course through this trip. We can’t wait to meet up with you in the future and see who you’ve all become and what’s going on in your lives! You’re moving forward into life with enthusiasm, and we couldn’t be more excited and happy for you all!

That’s right, he has finished up all of his IB exams (this guy is SMART), thrown his silly cardboard hat up in the air, and is ready to start his future as a genuine college student.

As soon as Zach’s exams were over, Josh and I (Kelley) met up with him for his “I’m FREE, I’m FREE!!! AND I’m going to college!” session (AKA senior session).

Now, Zach’s not going to be just any college student, he’s going to be a Pepperdine University student. And, in case you weren’t already jealous enough, he’s going to be attending classes at the Malibu, CA campus!

Josh and I wished Zach luck when it comes to deciding between studying and heading out to the beach. He was thankful for the well wishes and pretty sure that he was going to need them.

Luckily, it is possible to study WHILE at the beach. I can see it now, come September, Zach’s going to be relaxing on a beach chair, bible in one hand, textbook in the other, and the latest copy of The Wall Street Journal laying across his lap.

That may not sound incredibly relaxing for some of us, but I’m guessing it would be just about the perfect day for Zach.

The fact that he chose to bring his Bible to his session shows how important his faith is to him, and I’m sure it’s something that will remain important while he attends Pepperdine (a Christian university).

Zach is also extremely interested in business management and enjoys all things money and finance related. It’s true, where many of us may have cringed and perhaps even cried through math classes (okay, maybe that was just me), Zach does well in them and enjoys them too!

I’m a big proponent of doing what you love, so if numbers are Zach’s thing, I say, “Go for it!” We need more people like him to balance out the people like me who run away when numbers pop up!

Zach is the second son that his parents are sending off to college in California, which means that his little sister will now be the only kid left at home. You can tell they’re going to miss each other.

Still, she assured Zach she’ll be calling him for help with her math homework, so they’ll be staying connected for sure!

Zach, I hope you completely LOVE your next four years at Pepperdine! Enjoy the beach, enjoy the books, enjoy those math classes, enjoy helping your little sister with her math homework from hundreds of miles away, but most of all, enjoy the entire college experience. You’re going to do great!